There will be no reprise of Gareth Bale’s magical turn at the San Siro. After
24 hours in which Harry Redknapp provided conflicting statements about the
winger’s fitness, the Tottenham Hotspur manager finally admitted yesterday
that the Welshman is unfit to play against AC Milan tomorrow.

Struggling with a back problem, the player who scored a hat-trick away to Inter Milan in October could not even last a fitness test on the day of this victory over Sunderland, let alone the first leg of his side’s Champions League last-16 tie.

That is only one of Redknapp’s concerns. While Bale will play no part in the match, Luka Modric is set to start on the bench, barely a fortnight after the Croatian had his appendix removed. With Jermaine Jenas suspended, Redknapp will start with his only two fit central midfielders: Wilson Palacios and Sandro. Palacios flew back from Honduras only on Friday having served his country in a 1-1 draw against Ecuador.

The squad is decimated such that the manager may have to put two goalkeepers on the bench. God forbid that Rafael van der Vaart, missing at the Stadium of Light, does not recover as expected from a calf problem. “I have got to wait to see how Rafa van der Vaart is,” Redknapp said. “He should be fit. Luka Modric could be a bit short.”

Yet Redknapp has reason to be optimistic given resilience his side showed against Sunderland. The manager puts that down to the character of the squad.

“Clubs are not just about having wonderful players, there are a lot of good players who are toe-rags who you wouldn’t have near you,” he said. “If you have people who don’t appreciate being at a good club then go somewhere else to play.

“There’s no magic formula, no great secret. It’s about good players that want to work and want to win. We have created that good spirit, that determination.”

Tottenham’s pass-and-move style entertains but that they keep fighting back after falling behind shows fortitude is now allied to their fluency. “There are times when you have to come to places like here and Blackburn where you have got to claw out results,” Redknapp said. “We’ve been to tough places like Stoke and won, places that in the past Tottenham wouldn’t have got a win. You need good players but you have to make them work.

“You need people like Michael Dawson, who have a never-say-die attitude. There was a time when Spurs went behind and you could pack up and go home. We don’t do that any more. We keep going.

“I always feel there are goals in us even though our front players have an incredibly low tally of goals for people who have traditionally scored plenty. Jermain Defoe usually has 12-14 goals by now. Pav [Roman Pavlyuchenko] hasn’t got too many.”

Most within Redknapp’s team are Champions League rookies but he is relishing the challenge of taking on a team who have won the elite European club competition seven times. “I’d rather have them than Copenhagen,” he said. “That would have been a banana skin. People would have said, well, they are going to get through now, and if they don’t it’s a disaster.

“But Milan is a massive club, a great game to look forward to, and if we can make sure we are still in the tie when they come back to White Hart Lane, it will be another great night. They have a lot of great players. But they are not unbeatable. We have a good chance.”

Niko Kranjcar impressed again for Tottenham, scoring a fine volley to complement his stunning goal against Bolton a week earlier. His strike after an hour set up his side’s first win on Wearside in almost a decade after Dawson had equalised with a header from a corner. Asamoah Gyan put the hosts ahead when he turned his marker and finished expertly.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce was generous in defeat, suggesting Redknapp’s side could spring a surprise against the Serie A leaders.

“Spurs will have to be at their best because they’ve got Robinho etc but I wouldn’t be surprised if they get something,” Bruce said. “It was fantastic last year that they broke the mould and, make no mistake, from what I’ve just seen they had to dig deep and they got the result in the end. Harry’s got some good players but they’ve got resilience as well.

Bruce bemoaned his side’s defending for Dawson’s goal. “After all the good play, we had it’s disappointing,” he said. “If you cannot defend the set-piece, you come unstuck. Either we were lacking in concentration or we didn’t haven’t the courage to go head it.”

After the rigours of international week, he welcomed a two-week break until their next fixture: “It’s the right time, gives us a bit of time off and lets everybody freshen up.”

AC Milan watch

How are they doing? Under new manager Massimiliano Allegri, AC Milan seem to have shaken off the torpor which had afflicted an ageing, decaying side since their last Champions League win in 2007. They are top of Serie A and, in the form of Robinho, Antonio Cassano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, boast one of the most expensive, and, theoretically, potent strike forces in European football.

Who’s scoring the goals? Mainly Ibrahimovic, who has13 since his return to Serie A following a poor season at Barcelona. Robinho scored twice in the 4-0 victory over Parma on Saturday, and the threat of Alexandre Pato should not be underestimated.

What are their weaknesses? Milan remain somewhat suspect in defence – where Alessandro Nesta is not the player he was and Thiago Silva not the player he will become – while Gianluca Zambrotta’s injury means that either the unpredictable Massimo Oddo or the inexperienced Luca Antonini will feature at right-back. With Andrea Pirlo also ruled out through injury, Milan may be undone by unfamiliarity.Rory Smith